Central High is home to one of Franklin’s recruits—Nigel Bowden—which is presumably why he made the stop in Macon. And in his now-famous rah-rah, rally-the-base style, Franklin let the Tide coach know his plan for, ahem, college football domination.

“There’s this guy in Alabama. I think his name is Nicky Satan,” Franklin said, as shown on a video clip. “You guys have probably have heard of him before. I’m gonna outwork him. I’m gonna outwork him, and that’s going to be our plan every single day.”

As is always the case with viral videos, an apology from Franklin came later.

“Obviously, tremendous respect for Coach Saban,” Franklin told The Tennessean. “I just got off the phone with him. Tremendous respect for them. I’ve got tremendous respect for what they’ve done. Everybody is chasing them. The guy has won three or four national championships.

“(I was) really talking about the work ethic that he has a reputation for, and that we’re going to outwork them. I made a joke."

Franklin’s go-get-'em style is playing well with recruits, including Bowden, who will join the team this fall.

“This man right here has so much passion in what he do, and I believe this is a man I can look up to for four years,” Bowden said, per the report. “I’m telling you, I’m gonna have the best life up there.”

“I’ve been saying it for a long time, I will not hire an assistant coach until I’ve seen his wife,” Franklin said in a radio interview. “If she looks the part, and she’s a D-1 recruit, then you got a chance to get hired. That’s part of the deal.

“There’s a very strong correlation between having the confidence, going up and talking to a woman, and being quick on your feet and having some personality and confidence and being fun and articulate, than it is walking into a high school and recruiting a kid and selling him,” Franklin said last June.

Franklin later apologized for the comments, saying they were made in jest.

Franklin and the Commodores won’t have to worry about facing Alabama this fall. The Crimson Tide are not on Vanderbilt’s SEC schedule. Saban, however, may still be feeling the heat. His Crimson Tide team has won only three of the last four national titles, while the Commodores are coming off an enormous win in the Music City Bowl.